1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of displaying the results of a spreading activation algorithm. Specifically, the present invention is related to interactively generating an activation input vector, and the present invention is related to displaying intermediate activation vectors in the spreading activation algorithm. The present invention addresses the problem of how to communicate to the user the possible relevance of World Wide Web pages on a web site and how that relevance is determined.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The World-Wide Web ("web") is perhaps the most important information access mechanism to be introduced to the general public in the 20th Century. As larger numbers of organizations rely on the Internet to distribute information to potential consumers and investors, they also realize its potential for distributing and organizing large volumes of data for later retrieval by employees and business partners. A company's web site is rapidly becoming one of its most important business investments.
As an information repository, a web site generally receives a high amounts of usage. Web site usage patterns that are derived by monitoring the how the company's employees use its web site enhance the companies understanding of its business activities. For example, monitoring what product literature the sales force is downloading may be a way to forecast sales. In short, traditional market analysis can be applied to this information resource.
Analysts are interested in not just how the web pages are used, but also the context under which they are placed, such as the linkage structure and the web page content. A web site is a dynamic structure, because its topology as evidenced by its linkage structure, the contents of its pages, and its usage changes continually. Analysts want to be able to analyze the evolving web site.
Because of analysts increasing desire to discover and understand users' access patterns, relationships between web page contents, and to efficiently structure web sites' topology, a need exists for a set of visualization tools which aid in the process of web site analysis.
The spreading activation algorithm is an iterative process which models or predicts an activation vector at time t corresponding to activation levels at the nodes of a generalized graph structure in response to an activation input vector. The spreading activation algorithm involves a set of linear equations which are typically iterated over N iterations. If certain conditions on the linear equations are satisfied, the activation vector converges asymptotically.
Conventionally, only the input activation vector and final activation vector are analyzed. However, valuable information or feedback may be obtained by analysts by studying the intermediate values of the activation vectors, such as the identification phase shifts and of the identification of divergent spreading activation flow matrices. Therefore, a need exists for a way to view the intermediate activation vectors.